Roger Loyer

This Parisian was first and foremost a motorcycle racer who won the French Grand Prix for both 250cc (1937) and 350cc (1938) machines. The son of a taxi driver, Roger Loyer also made his debut in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1938 but would retire from the race on each of the five occasions he competed.

He dabbled with single-seaters after the war and drove an Amilcar in the 1945 Coupe de la Libération in the Bois de Boulogne. He entered the 1947 Swiss GP but his Ecurie Gersac Delage 3L was eliminated in his qualifying heat.

Loyer then bought a Cisitalia D46 with which he finished fourth at St Gaudens and won a voiturette heat at Angoulême. He campaigned for three years as Ecurie de Paris before switching to a Formula 2 Simca-Gordini T15 in 1950.

He retired from that year’s non-championship German GP and finished second in the minor Circuit de Médoc despite injuries sustained in the motorcycle race. Loyer raced less in single-seaters after 1950 but enjoyed some success in national sports car events including victory in the 1953 Coupe du Salon at Montlhéry.

Formula 1 with Gordini

The 1954 World Championship opened with the Argentine GP and Amédée Gordini invited Loyer to join his team. He qualified a Gordini T16 in 16th position but retired from his only race at this level when his engine ran out of oil. He finished 10th in the Formule Libre Buenos Aires City GP later that month when sharing Elie Bayol’s car after his own had again retired.

He continued to race out of the limelight and his Elva-DKW won a Formula Junior race at Montlhéry as late as 1960 in what was his last season in the sport.